Aspects of Hope

I’m reading D.H. Lawrence’s ‘The Plumed Serpent’. Kay, an Irishwoman visiting Mexico, encounters Mexican people and religion that are dark, oppressed, without hope:

‘For Jesus is no Saviour to the Mexicans. He is a dead god in their tomb. As a miner who is entombed underground by the collapsing of the earth in the gangways, so do whole nations become entombed under the slow subsidence of their past. Unless there comes some Saviour, some Redeemer to drive a new way out, to the sun.’

On Saturday we learnt that Sir Tom Stoppard, one of the UK’s best-known playwrights, has died aged 88. Tributes were paid to him, we were reminded of his work that explored serious philosophical and political themes, his wit, irreverence, genius…

We were reminded of the line from ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead’: ‘Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.’

Looking at something from a different perspective can bring fresh hope…

Yesterday morning, at Church we lit the first Advent candle on the first Sunday in Advent. Ray read from 1 Peter: ‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade…’

Minister-Lou talked about Christian hope that begins with mercy and is anchored in resurrection…

Yesterday evening, at ‘Seekers and Dreamers’, we sung of carols at the Seagull Theatre. Our Christmas readings included extracts from C.S. Lewis’ ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’. Mr. Beaver prophecies that Aslan will return to Narnia:

‘Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.‘

Aslan’s presence will overturn the Witch’s endless winter, healing Narnia’s grief and suffering, restoring justice, truth, joy and hope.